Stamps Directory
Roland Graf

Associate Professor, School of Art & Design
Contact
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Office: 2071 AA
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
Dipl. Ing. (MSc equivalent), Vienna University of Technology, 2002
Biography
Roland Graf is a media artist, design researcher, and inventor. He collaborates across many disciplines to design platforms and interactive systems that reframe the body and interactivity in the built environment. His current research focuses on the benefits of play and playful exploration of emerging technologies to prototype and build more inclusive and desirable futures.
Graf is a co-founder of the artist collective Assocreation. His art and technology research initiatives at the University of Michigan include: Daylight Media Lab, a collaboration with material scientists and engineers exploring sunlight as a medium for interactive outdoor media systems; Internet of Shoes (IoS), a sensory networking platform for street-level interactions in collaboration with engineers of embedded wireless technologies. His most recent research with computer engineers, iGYM, is an inclusive augmented reality system that enables people with different abilities to play and exercise together, funded by the U-M Exercise & Sport Science Initiative. It received the Best Paper Award in the proceedings of CHI Play 2019.
Throughout his career, Graf has worked in multiple creative domains ranging from art and urban interventions to architecture and product design. His individual and collaborative work has been exhibited internationally and received national and international awards, patents, and recognition, including: the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival for the street video game Solar Pink Pong, the Prix Ars Electronica Distinction in the Category of Interactive Art for the telematic sidewalk Bump, Winner of the National Play Everywhere Design Challenge with the urban intervention Brightmoor Runway, Feldmark licensed to the German retailer Magazin, Slim Jim at the Milan Design Week, and Solo Exhibition Assocreation – taste it! at the Vienna Künstlerhaus, k/haus Galerie.
Since relocating to the USA in 2011, Graf has collaborated with communities at the heart of Michigan’s postindustrial society on public art and design/build projects such as “Camp Take Notice” in Ann Arbor, and “Black Men for Social Change” in Flint.
Before joining the Stamps School of Art & Design faculty, Graf was Assistant Professor in the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design at the Vienna University of Technology.
Gallery
Click thumbnails to view full size.
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iGYM: augmented reality system
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Solar Pink Pong: street video game
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Brightmoor Runway: urban intervention
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Red Crossing: participatory public performance
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Pipa Vista: urban intervention and workshop series
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Internet of Shoes: sensory networking device/platform
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Bump: telematic installation
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Rolling Shadows: interactive installation
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Moon Ride: interactive installation
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Arising From The Surface: experimental short film
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Freedom: permanent installation
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Pink Prints Streetwear: happening, installation and object series
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Public Hanging: installation, happening
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Red Carpet: installation
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Feldmark: table
In the News
- Roland Graf’s iGYM: An Interactive and Inclusive Game for Kids With and Without Disabilities
- Roland Graf: What is the Research Telling Us?
- Red Crossing by Graf, Low, and Tobier at Winnipeg Design Festival
- Roland Graf: Bump Featured as a Pioneering Telepresence Art Work
- Roland Graf: Internet of Shoes Patent Issued
- Roland Graf: Best Paper Award at CHI PLAY
- A Beacon to Connect: Red Crossing Premieres in Prague
- Roland Graf Presents iGYM at CHI 2019 in Glasgow, UK
- Roland Graf on Micro-Housing for BBC News Brazil
- Roland Graf: Augmented Reality Teach-Out
- Stamps School Shines at CAA
- Roland Graf: AAOSA/OSUM Seminar “Between Sky and Screen”
- Stamps Faculty Collaboration LitKNIT Gateways Shortlisted, Featured
- Roland Graf: Interactive Installations at EXPO 2017 Astana
- Design@Michigan Convening
- Deconsciousness: Exhibition Opens in Work Commons
- Roland Graf Issued New Patent
- Roland Graf: Energy Race Bangkok
- Roland Graf: Solar Pink Pong Nominated for the New Technological Art Award
- Roland Graf: Game Art at Mid-America College Art Association
- Nick Tobier and Roland Graf: Brightmoor Runway Featured
- Roland Graf: Feldmark
- Nick Tobier, Roland Graf, and Michael Flynn: Brightmoor Runway Project Funded
- Roland Graf’s Studio 3-D Class Featured
- Roland Graf and Robert Platt: AVIFF Art Film Festival
- Roland Graf and Robert Platt: International Speechless Film Festival
- Roland Graf: Solar Pink Pong Awarded at Japan Media Arts Festival
- Roland Graf: Solar Pink Pong at FILE Sao Paulo
- Roland Graf: Red Carpet for the GrazMuseum
- Roland Graf: Solar Pink Pong at TEI15 Stanford